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Critical Community Issues

in central Iowa

Engaging Our Community to Address Critical Issues

 
The critical issues we face in central Iowa are like complex puzzles. Puzzles have many pieces, every piece is interconnected and impacted by the others, but most importantly — complex puzzles are better solved when everyone works together.
 
Critical community challenges do not happen in a silo; they send ripples across the community that impact every aspect of central Iowans’ lives. These challenges are larger than any one individual or any one organization. Working independently, unaware of what others are doing, can lead to missed opportunities for collaboration and impact.
 
United Way of Central Iowa holds a unique role in our community as a convener, engaging every voice in our community to empower all. Central Iowa looks to United Way to bring everyone together, find alignment to address an issue, identify strategies, and execute collectively on those strategies.

  • Increasing Food Security

    Central Iowa is at a critical juncture with record high utilization of our food security network. In 2023, 1 in 4 central Iowans visited a food pantry, and of those visitors most are a part of central Iowa’s essential workforce. It is imperative that the community works collaboratively to ensure the needs of all central Iowans are met in an equitable, dignified, and respectful manner.

    What United Way of Central Iowa is doing about food security

  • Creating Youth Opportunities

    Recent school shootings in central Iowa brought the issue of youth violence to the forefront in our community. Experts agree that youth disengagement (not being enrolled in school or being under-employed) can be a determining factor in contributing to youth violence. Youth engagement has been declining in central Iowa.

    What United Way of Central Iowa is doing to increase youth opportunities

  • Addressing Childcare Capacity

    Childcare is a critical workforce support and essential for children's healthy development. Access to safe, affordable, quality childcare for working families can enable them to have stable jobs and secure a living wage. This, in turn, affects their family's access to healthcare, ability to obtain affordable housing, and their children's academic success.

    What United Way of Central Iowa is doing to increase childcare capacity

ALICE

ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed) may be a relative or friend. You may be ALICE. As cashiers, waiters, child care providers, and other members of our essential workforce, ALICE earns just above the Federal Poverty Level but less than what it costs to make ends meet. These struggling households are forced to make impossible choices each day. While such hardship is pervasive, households of color are disproportionately ALICE.

ALICE also represents the data reshaping the dialogue on financial hardship, and a grassroots movement that is picking up steam.

Learn More About ALICE
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Central Iowa Nonprofit Sector Survey

In the spring of 2024, United Way of Central Iowa collaborated with Bravo Greater Des Moines and the Community Foundation of Greater Des Moines to distribute a survey to assess the state of nonprofits in central Iowa (Polk, Warren, and Dallas counties). More than 110 nonprofit organizations responded to the survey, ranging from volunteer-run operations to those with more than 700 employees and serving from 20 to 700,000 individuals per year.

The results of this survey present a committed, yet strained, nonprofit sector that is very much in need of ongoing support to sustain and enhance its capacity to address the pressing problems facing our region. Addressing these complex issues requires a multisector, systems-level, community-based approach that includes government, business, nonprofits, the faith-based community, and the voices of our neighbors with lived experience.

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